To Salt Or Not To Salt? Also Was Wondering A Few Other Things

[RaisonDetre]

It seems that my betta (Leroy) is starting to get a bit of fin rot. It doesn't look too bad so far, but I don't want it to get worse. So what would you recommend for it? I hear some people saying to just keep the water clean and some others say to use aquarium salt, so which would be better? I do try to keep the water as clean as possible. I've been doing 100% water changes and using water conditioner (because it's tap water). The reason I do 100% changes is because it's only a 1 gallon tank, even if it does have a filter (and heater), because the filter doesn't seem to keep it all clean. I did just get him less than a week ago and he seems to not like when his tank is warm either, not sure why. I noticed that when the temp in the tank was 74-78, he became very lethargic and didn't feel like doing anything, he would just sink to the bottom of the tank and only come up for air. So I decided to gradually make it go down to 68 (probably the same temp he was living in at the store I got him from, poor thing was stuck on a shelf in a small deli cup in Walmart), when I did that, he started to perk back up and become more lively, even though it took him a couple of days.
 
At first I thought it was because he might have been constipated, because my boyfriend wants to feed him every chance he gets, and I keep telling him that he's not a goldfish (I didn't even feed my goldfish that much). Also, the filter in the tank always seems to be on high and since it's a small tank, it causes a lot of turbulence, I try to slow it down, but once again, the boyfriend thinks it's okay to keep the filter and air stone on high at all times. I want to get him a bigger tank, but money is a bit tight right now, so that may have to wait.
 
I used to own a betta sometime ago, which lived for quite a few years, but he never seemed to have problems and was kept in bowl without a filter or heater. This time I wanted to give my new betta a bit bigger home with all the amenities, but he doesn't seem to like the heat at all. I asked my mother about it, because she used to own two bettas along time ago and she was surprised when I told her that I bought a heater, because she never had to use one and her little guys lived for even longer than my old one did. It's just perplexing, because he seems happy without heat and with the heat, he seemed like he was on the verge of death.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

You need to get him a bigger tank ASAP. Minimum of 2.5 gallons but 5 gallons is much better.

He also needs to be at a temperature of 26-28°C. Any lower is unhealthy because Bettas are tropical fish. Raise the temperature gradually to avoid the sudden shock of a higher temperature.

What are you feeding him? How much and how often?

Keep the water changes up, 90-100% twice a day and the fun rot should clear up.

Many people have sadly been able to keep Bettas without heaters and filters but, unless they got daily 100% water changes and lived some where hot, I can almost guarantee you that those Bettas weren't happy. As the saying goes, surviving is not thriving.

Don't have the filter so strong that your Betta gets blown around, have it low enough so there is a bit of flow but not too much that the Betta will be blown around.

Also, to the forum.

 

[RaisonDetre]

Well, I did try to raise the temperature gradually for him, as slow as I could, he was fine at first, but then just didn't feel like moving all that often until I slowly lowered the temperature, which I thought was odd. My boyfriend does have a 10 gallon tank from his tarantula days, but to get him to part with it will be a hard task, since he wants to use it for fish of his choice. Plus, he thinks 1 gallon should be enough for the little guy, which I told him was not a good idea, at least not for a long period of time (he's never owned a betta before).
 
I do turn down the flow of the filter when I see that it's going at full speed, it's just a matter of keeping my boyfriends hands off of it. Hah! But the temperature does concern me though, why does he become so lethargic in a high temperature, but more lively in a lower one? It just doesn't make sense to me, because I know bettas need a higher temp.
 
As for the food, I changed him to pellets. He did like the flake/brine shrimp, but I do believe that's what made him a bit bloated and just not hungry. The last betta I had never had that problem, but all fish are different. I want to give him a treat of maybe something live, but it's hard to find things like that around here.
 
I'll start changing his water twice daily and I hope the fin rot stops. Also, what is a good way to break up the turbulence in the water? Because sometimes if the filter is on low, it still causes a little bit of turbulence, nothing extreme, but enough to get Leroy a bit disorientated.
 
Thank you!

 

[Wildbetta]

Ok for starters, if you are going to keep him in the 1 gallon for a while, remove the filter.  In a tank that small with daily 100% water changes, there is no need for it.  It also sounds like it is causing more problems than good at the moment with the flow.  The flow is probably stressing him out quite a bit which is not good especially when there is really no where for him to go to get away from it.  Bettas do not require a filter so that will cause him no harm to remove it. 
 
As for the weird reaction on with the heater.  Do you have a thermometer in the tank to show you the temperature of the water?  If not, then what I figure is happening is  the tank is getting way too warm which is not unusual for small tanks.  That is why it is recommended to not keep a betta in a tank of less than 2.5 gallons since it is hard to keep the temp stable in a tank any smaller.  
 
For most cases of fin rot, the best treatment is very clean warm water. There is a difference in opinion as to whether salt actually helps heal anything besides the slime coat.

 

[RaisonDetre]

Alright, I'll turn the filter off then. I do believe you're right about the heater though. I do have a thermometer on the other end of the tank that did read 74 to 78, but when I did a finger test, there was no way it was that cool, it felt so much warmer. I took him out to do a water change earlier and left him out for a little while. I put the heater back in and left it in there for awhile with it on, the temperature started to read the same as it did before, but it surely didn't feel as warm as it was the other night. It just might not be distributing right for some reason, which isn't good, of course. I'm going to have to demand the 10 gallon tank, at least for the time being, until I can find a 5 gallon.

 

[Wildbetta]

Is the thermometer one of the stick on strip types or one of the glass ones you actually hang inside the tank?  If it is a stick on strip, you really need to get one of the glass internal ones.  The strips are inaccurate and there can be a pretty big discrepancy between the actual temp and what the strip reads.